Among them were the "biggest companies in the world and the richest people in this country" Keith Olbermann said in a special report on his msnbc cable show Wednesday night titled, "Small Business in Name Only."

The term "small business" was an "utter misnomer," he claimed.

Because IRS tax returns are not public record, the names of companies were ascertained from public documents such as court records or the companies' postings:

President Barack Obama and most of his fellow Democrats want tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush to be extended only for the first $200,000 of a person's income or $250,000 for a family, saying the country cannot afford the cuts for higher earners.

Republicans want the lower rates renewed for all Americans, regardless of income, and say that losing the cuts would hurt small businesses and job creation just as the economy is recovering from its worst recession since the 1930s.

On CBS' "Face The Nation" on Sept. 12, Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, conceded that a nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation found that 3 percent of small-business people would be impacted if Bush tax cuts for the rich would expire.

"Well, it may be 3 percent, but it's half of small business income," House minority leader told Bob Schieffer. "Because, obviously, the top 3 percent have half of the gross income for those companies that we would term small businesses. And this is why you don't want to punish these people at a time when you have a weak economy."

Fewer than 750,000 people, less than 0.25 percent of the country, would be affected by the top rate, according to Joint Committee on Taxation figures quoted by Olbermann.

Owners of such businesses would benefit from continuation of Bush era tax cuts due to expire at the end of this year.

Rather than paying corporate taxes, the firms operate as S Corporations, sole proprietorships or partnerships, including limited liability companies that put LLC instead of Inc. at the end of their names.

All are considered pass-through structures, in which company profits are passed directly to individual owners, who then pay taxes.

Traditional corporations pay taxes on profits and pass along dividends to individuals, who pay taxes on the dividends.

Olbermann explained the rules for classification as a small business.

“It’s not the income that’s small, it’s not the number of employees that’s small, it’s just the total number of owners that’s small,” Olbermann said.

In the case of S corporations, the total number of owners can be 100, he said.

Video: Countdown Special Report: Small in name only

Closed captioning of: Countdown Special Report: Small in name only

>>>good evening from new york. with the final session of congress before
election day
coming down to the wire now, democrats are still torn between whether to force republicans to vote now in defense of
tax cuts
for the rich or to duck a vote on extending the
bush tax cuts
and let republicans campaign against them for letting all taxes rise. if it seems like a no-brainer, our fifth story tonight should remove all doubt. a "countdown"
special report
, the reality behind the republican argument made by
house republican leaderjohn boehner
and others that
tax cuts
for the rich are simply
tax cuts
for
small businesses
whose owners report their business earnings on their individual
personal income tax
returns. house democrats have pushed back that some of those supposedly
small businesses
are actually big businesses, and after the
white house
identified the right-wing billionaire coke brothers as being among those ranks,
bill kristol
's right-wing magazine, "the
weekly standard
," fired back, suggesting the
white house
had improperly looked at the coke brother's
tax return
. in fact, their tax status was already public information. but as "countdown" skofred with the help of david k. johnson, who joins us presently, the koch brothers are just the tip of a half-trillion dollar iceberg. a variety of sources including court documents confirm that when republicans talk about the
small businesses
they're trying to help with their
tax cut
, they're actually talking about some of the biggest companies in the world and some of the
richest people
in this country. mr. boehner admitting this summer that his
tax cuts
only benefit 3% of so-called
small businesses
. so how
small
can that top 3% be when it accounts for half of all
small business
income?

>>only 3% of those
small
businesspeople, you
keep talking
about all the
small
businesspeople that are going to get taxed. only 3% would be affected by that. do you quarrel with that figure? is that a right figure or a wrong figure?

>>it may be 3%, but it's half of
small business
income, because, obviously, the top 3% have half of the
gross income
for those companies that we would term
small businesses
.

>>so how do they decide which companies they would term "
small businesses
"?
h&r block
told politico it has $1.5 million
small
clients. but extending the
tax cuts
would benefit fewer than 1% of them. fewer than 750,000 people, one quarter of 1% of the country, would be affected by the top rate. so how
small
can this top 3% of
small businesses
be if they make half the
small business
money?

>>and let's remember the context back then.

>> reporter: dave kamp knows. he's the ranking republican member on the
house ways and means committee
. to him, the definition of
small business
is a footnote. literally. "according to the
joint committee on taxation
, 94% of all u.s. businesses in
2007
were "s" corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships. pass-through
business types
commonly used by
small businesses
." they call them pass-through companies because they file no taxes, passing through profits to the owners who report them on their individual
tax returns
instead. in short, they are considered
small
, not because they have a
small
payroll, but because they have a
small number
of owners. it's not the income that's
small
, it's not the number of employees that's
small
, it's just the total number of owners that's
small
. in the case of "s"
corp
.s, up to 100 owners. when politicians talk about
small businesses
, they are including any company that pays taxes as a pass-through. house democrats last week identified three
limited partnerships
that file as pass-throughs. a pipeline company called enterprise, the
wall street
firm, kohlberg, kravitz, and waters, and pricewaterhousecoopers. their own website lists partnership after partnership after partnership that make up a
small business
empire of 70,000 employees. according to the "
washington post
," more than
1 million
people who reported at least $200,000 in income in
2008
were partnerships and "s" corps. the richer you are, the more likely you are to call yourself a
small business
that way. 89% of americans who make more than $10 million a year filed as a partnership or an "s"
corp
. in
2008
, more than 500,000 of these supposed
small businesses
had more than $
1 million
in assets. in
2005
, almost 20,000 of them had annual receipts of more than $50 million. but if you want to know which companies these are, you are out of luck. because individual tax filings are not
public record
. still, some have revealed themselves. the "s"
corp
. association
lobbying group
is chaired by an executive of the hillman company, a
small business
founded by a billionaire. the "s" copper group president is from venn strategies, a
small business
whose chief operating officer is a former special assistant to
president bush
, whose president used to work for senate leader reid. directors of the "s"
corp
. group come from ferrellgas, which provides propane and propane accessories, with a
small business
touch to
1 million
customers. a
small business
. coorstek,
north america
's largest maker of technical ceramics, a
small business
founded by adolf coors. a
small business
. the
dead river
company, a
small business
with commercial real estate valued at $300 million. a
small business
. and a
small business
called maccel haney, selling their
tabasco sauce
out of their kitchen to 160 countries. a
small business
. "the
boston globe
" revealed in
2007
that
fidelity investments
was becoming an "s"
corp
., a move that saved this
small business
hundreds of millions of dollars. similar to how a scrappy little newspaper call eed "the tribune," as in the "
chicago tribune
," made an extra $1.9 billion by converting to "s"
corp
. status in
2008
. as tax reporter david k. johnston figured out, other companies get revealed as "s" corps when their filings become evidence in tax trials. that's how he identified one of the biggest
small businesses
in the world -- bechtel. a
small business
that builds airports,
sea ports
, railroads,
oil refineries
, nuclear refineries, but back when it was all just bechtel, they built the
hoover dam
. today, the world's number one engineering and construction firm, a
small business
. companies aside, who are the actual people who would benefit from the republican
tax cut
for the richest
small businesses
? him, for one. bloomberg news reports the president and other big authors and actors and celebrities, even
hedge fund
managers, file as "s" corps to save on taxes. nor is mr. obama the only famous "s"
corp
. owner. recognize this guy? how about now? thanks to court documents reviewed by "countdown," we know one of texas' two richest men in the
1990s
became an "s"
corp
. back in
1991
.
senator john mccain
knows about "s" corps. mrs.
john mccain
filed as an "s"
corp
. back in
2006
. a
small business
owner who owns a massive beer distributorship and reported income of more than $6 million. and then there's
small business
man philip anshoots. a
small
businessman who gave $30,000 to the senate republican campaign committee last year, and $15,000 to the house. on top of his family's more than $500 million to republicans over all. he owns
small
railroads,
smalloil companies
,
small
sports stadiums,
small
arenas, a
small
national
movie theater
chain, a
small
half of
smallmajor leaguesmall
soccer, the
l.a. kings
, the
l.a. lakers
. his
small business
entertainment company likes to clean out the old garage now and again to put on
small
shows by
bette midler
and cher. mr. anshoots even owns
small
newspapers, including "the
weekly standard
." "countdown" has even identified one "s"
corp
. owner whose reclusive chairman actually works out of these very nbc headquarters in new york. hi. technically, i'm